


The gold from the bottom of the river

by BigMich



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Don Rosa AU, F/M, Hearts of the Yukon, I tried to make a plausibile comic story, Prisoner of White Agony Creek, but this is mostly duck romance, there's some fun too, with some action ya know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-25 16:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17125067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigMich/pseuds/BigMich
Summary: Scrooge and Goldie might not be sure about their feelings, but in town is spread the word about some soft feelings between the two most feared ducks in the Klondike. And she won't betray his trust again.





	1. Chapter #1

Somehow, Casey Coot convinced him to get inside the Blackjack ballroom. Generous man, indeed: generosity, they said, was the virtue of this land, the hope of the new world. Poor man, his business wasn't going that great, everybody in town knew so, Coot didn't make a secret of it. Though he wasn't giving up yet, and still he didn't lose his generous soul.  
“Come on, Scrooge, let's get something to drink, in this cold winter! You so rarely are in Dawson at night! Come on, I'm gonna pay for it! We are friends, right? Let's get inside, it's cold out here.”  
Scrooge hesitated on the door of the ballroom, biting his own tongue. Last time he stepped inside that place it was on fire and... _oh, well._  
That night, it was just as disgusting as always, filled of the worst people of Dawson, stupid miners wasting their money for alcohol and people ready to take advantage of it.  
Oh, of course, there was Goldie too.

Scrooge sat next Coot, back turned to the stage. Coot lifted his glass and smiled, looking at the singer. “Isn't she beautiful?”  
Scrooge murmured something between his teeth.  
“Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm married! But the ones who say she is the most beautiful woman in Dawson are no wrong, right?” He laughed.  
“Could be the most beautiful woman in the world” Scrooge said “Doesn't change the fact she cannot be trusted around.”  
“That's true” Coot drank. “Everybody in town heard of what happened! I know you don't like her very much.”  
Oh, it couldn't be more far from the truth.  
“She is my worst nightmare.” Scrooge replied in a low tone of voice.  
“There's worse, surely. But pou probably are not the only one to dream about her.” Coot laughed and ordered another soda.  
Scrooge closed his eyes, quietly enjoying the sound of Goldie's voice. She was singing “Dream a little dream of me”. The grip of his hand on the counter tightned.  
“She sings this song every night in my dreams.” He muttered.  
Coot frowned looking at Scrooge's mysterious distress -that wasn't all that mysterious in the end. So he didn't hate her at all. And made a small smile.  
“Alright, now don't turn around, but I need to tell you, she is looking at you”  
Scrooge suddenly became more nervous and raised his head from the counter. “ _What?_ ”  
Coot giggled and stopped him before Scrooge could turn around to check. “Yeah, she hadn't stopped looking at you since we sat here.”  
“Ah- Ah need to leave-”  
Coot grabbed his arm. “It's a bad moment to leave now”  
“Why so?!”  
“She is coming here”  
“This is exactly why I had to leave!”  
“Aren't you the king of Klondike? Didn't you fight against ten and more men?”  
“Of course!!”  
“And it takes one woman against your courage?”  
Scrooge bit on his tongue and breathed hard, not moving from his stool.  
“Was she... really looking at me?”  
“All the time while singing. I thought you didn't care to know, otherwise I would have told you before. Just act natural. Now sshh, she is coming.”  
On her way, Goldie was stopped by other men who were complimenting her voice and asking her to stay and sit at their table, but compliments and flattering never had been enough to stop her. There she was now, batting her eyelashes, her green eyes sparkling in the lights of the ballroom, standing in front of Coot. Scrooge didn't around, trembling, but he didn't need to see her to know she was there.  
“Care to join me for a dance?” She asked, in the sweetest tone of voice -oh God!- _to Coot_. Scrooge held his glass in his hand so tight to the point to break it. Act natural, Coot said. Act natural.  
Coot managed to refrain his need to laugh and smiled kindly to the woman in front of him. “Oh, don't get me wrong, ma'am, I'd love to. But you know the life of miners, I have a strong pain in the back for all the mining and working around, I wouldn't be a good dancer tonight.”  
She smiled, not believing to a single word from him. “Then it'll be for next time.” Then she turned to look at Scrooge, who still didn't want to turn around. “I hope you are going to pay for that. Glasses are expensive.” she added, before turning her back to leave. Coot quickly nudged the other man in the hip. Scrooge had never been more embarrassed in his life and loudly coughed.  
“Ah- Ah I don't have pain in the back.” He said.  
Goldie slowly turned around. “Beg your pardon? Did you say anything?”  
Oh, she was just being cruel now.  
“Ah meant- Ah m not tired, Ah could dance with ye, ma'am.” He paused “If ye want.”  
She made a mean smile. “Thought you were too much a pain in the ass to dance.” A short, scary pause of silence followed, then Goldie grabbed his arm. “Very well, you are coming with me then.” She literally dragged him to dance with her, how was she even this strong?!  
There were too many people on the dancefloor. All the eyes on them. If he had to be anywhere with Goldie, he would have wanted to be alone. And hold her hand, and talk, and-  
“You know how to dance, right?”  
Scrooge shook his head. “Ah m sorry” He should have considered this before asking her to dance.  
“It's alright. I didn't expect you to. Just follow me.” She stood in front of him and positioned his hands on her. “Move with me, try to follow the music. You have to take my hand, don't be stupid now.” She moved closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “If I can dig gold, you can dance.” She whispered.  
Oh, she was sweet, and patient. She didn't sound too harsh about his poor dancing skills.  
“They are all looking at you” he murmured.  
“Mhm, I think they are mostly looking at you” she said.  
“Why?”  
“Because you are the only one who is holding me now.” He felt his face on fire. “I suggest you not to throw away the occasion.”  
Scrooge was trying his best to dance along with her. Always said “sorry” when he stepped on her. And his voice sounded so innocent and scared. It really takes only one woman to defeat Scrooge McDuck. Don't tell this to anyone.  
“You're too distracted. Are you looking at other women? I might get offended” She teased.  
“Ah m sorry” He said “Too many people. Ah... wish we could be alone.”  
“That's a brave thing to say, don't you think?” She said. “I thought it was me, distracting you.”  
He looked down. “That too.” He moved his hand from Goldie's hip up to her shoulder, so he could get to touch her soft golden curls without Goldie could notice it.  
(She noticed it)  
“If I could choose, I would rather be with you in a different moment.” She said, dancing in his arms “I wish we had this moment alone. Wish you came while I wasn't working. While nobody was around. But, too many people or no one at all, I guess it's the same thing. Nobody would ever pay attention to us.” She whispered and, as the music stopped, she stood in front of him. “But you didn't come here for me.”  
Scrooge didn't know what to say now. “No, I dinnae come here for you.” All the same he grabbed her hand. “Another dance? Ah m learning.”  
She smirked and shifted closer to him. “Alright. Show me. One two three, one two three. Don't step on my shoes or you will clean them with your tongue, got it?”  
“Got it.”  
“Good” She took his shoulder and dragged him closer to her body. “Scared? Running away?”  
“No ma'am.”  
She seemed fairly relaxed in his arms. “You are not speaking much tonight.”  
“Instead ye speak all the damn time.”  
“You could speak this time. But say the right things.”  
“Depends from what you expect from me to say.”  
“Guess I can start” She sighed. “We could start from “sorry”. For what happened. For hurting you. For being mad at you.”  
“I'm sorry for making you mad about me.”  
She leaned her forehead against his shoulder. “Do you ever miss me, when you are in White Agony Creek?”  
Before he could answer, another man took Goldie by the arm and asked to dance with her. At first he put hand to his knife, feeling aggressively protective over the woman. Goldie looked surprised -and scared- for just a moment, then smiled and said “don't question a woman's choice. I chose him, but your turn will come, be just a little patient, boy.” and turned back to Scrooge.  
She wasn't smiling anymore.  
“Ah m sorry... maybe I should leave.” He said and Goldie wasn't fast enough to take his hand and keep him with her. “Scrooge, please-” she tried to call him back, but he didn't turn his back for her. 

At the counter, Scrooge tossed a coin to pay for the glass he broke. Casey Coot was still there and smiled brightly to him. “How did it go??”  
“Ah m a terrible dancer”  
“I wasn't asking about that! Did you talk to her? I saw you talking to her! What did she say??”  
“Coot! Shut up!” He looked around “Let's get out, I'm gonna tell you.”  
He took Coot by an arm and walked outside with him. “So?? You didn't explain McDuck, was it so bad?”  
“She wanted to talk to me. But I can't, Coot, okay? I cannae talk to her now! Here! Ah got nervous and left! Ah just want a moment alone with her and talk about everything but this is not the place! I have never seen more men of Soapy Slick around!”  
“You were not scared of his men, were you?” Coot asked.  
“I-” He clenched his fists “Aye! Ah wasn't scared of them! But Ah m scared of what if they found out that we were talking. I don't want her to be in danger because of me! Now you look at me” he grabbed Coot by the shoulder “You are not going to tell about this conversation to anyone, got it? Swear!”  
“You realize that she can defend herself, right?”  
“Swear!”  
“Okay, dude, I swear, I promise, not a word about this. Your secret crush is safe with me, worry not.”  
“McDuck!” a voice made both ducks turn around to the door of the ballroom. Goldie was there, hands on her hips. “You didn't pay for that glass.”  
“DIDN'T PAY? YOU CRAZY MA'AM? OF COURSE I PAID, COOT, TELL HER-”  
“Go talk to her!” Coot pushed him to the door.  
Though, Goldie didn't walk back inside the Blackjack, but stayed outside, strongly grabbed Scrooge's arm and walked to an alley near the ballroom, probably a secondary entrance, or something like that. Goldie pushed his shoulders against the wall and looked in his eyes.  
“Tell me, do I look like a woman that can be fooled? Tell me honestly.”  
“No, ma'am.”  
“How long you plan to keep running away from me? Do I look like a woman you can run away from?”  
“No-”  
“Good!” She raised her voice “Because I'm not! Now you either confess or say you don't love me. I won't take another answer!”  
He felt her fingers holding his jack, keeping him at a distance so he couldn't kiss her. Or she couldn't kiss him. Who knew what was in that woman's mind.  
“Goldie-”  
“ _Just say it!_ ” She moved her hands away from him “I do not accept this stupid game between us.”  
“And here I thought you played better than me.”  
“I'm tired of this, Scrooge, I just want to hear it from you.”  
He sighed. “Cannae tell you what you want from me.”  
“Say it! 'I don't love you Goldie!' I'm not a woman you can fool!”  
“I have never fooled you Goldie” He sighed.  
“No? Then why do you keep a golden lock of hair in your safebox?”  
He looked at her with wide eyes. “How-”  
“Tell me why you kept it.”  
“How do you know about it?!”  
“Oh are you really surprised that I tried to steal gold from you? You were sure about it, back in White Agony Creek.”  
“You looked through my stuff!”  
“And you never came back! If you cared for me you would have come back to me! I waited for you!” She had to stop, and looked like she was about to cry. His anger suddenly disappeared when she looked at him with those big eyes.  
She was scared that he would really say it. I don't love you, Goldie. She was terrified. Scrooge had never seen her like this.  
“I'm- waiting.”  
“Goldie...” he took her hands “Please, don't-”  
She moved away from him and turned her back to him. He saw her trembling, like she was about to start crying. “What you do makes no sense to me. At least, I was always trying to rob you. You knew this from the first moment you saw me. And still, you brought me to your claim. You treated me kindly. You gave me your bed, you saved me. But you never... answered my letter. You never came back to me.”  
He opened his eyes wide at that. The letter! He never opened it.  
“The... letter...”  
She made a tired sigh and rubbed her eyes. “I should go back inside. Fuck you, McDuck, you will never make sense to me. I'm just wasting my time with you.” She slowly walked away.  
Scrooge didn't stop her. His hands trembled, like his fingers were looking in the air around him for the letter he abandoned in the snow.  
_What have I done?_


	2. Chapter #2

In the following days, Goldie received many unexpected clients. Men she was sure were paid by Soapy Slick. What that disgusting piece of shit wanted from her business? She warned her girls to keep their eyes open.  
Then finally Soapy Slick showed himself in her ballroom. It was during a lazy morning, and Goldie was cleaning the counter to keep herself busy. No client around.  
“Miss Goldie, it's a honor to see you”  
She smiled. “You can't be all that surprised about seeing me. This is my business, this is my place. Where did you expect me to be?”  
“Don't take things for granted, you have spent one month at McDuck's claim.”  
She considered her answer. “It was last year, for only one month. I don't go to that place, ya know. I well know who I could meet. I learned my lesson from messing with Scrooge McDuck's business.” She smirked “Didn't ya?”  
“I learn from my mistakes, what can I say”  
“Good for you” She turned her back and put in order glasses and bottles.  
“You know, ma'am, I am told to be a good observant.”  
“By who?”  
“Many. Also, I have eyes everywhere.”  
“I noticed your men in my ballroom. I mean, they can stay here as long as they behave. Can't complain about anything. Yet.”  
“There's this... gossip, lately, in town.”  
“You didn't look like a man who cares about gossip.”  
“Don't you have a soft spot for that Scottish miner?”  
Goldie turned to look at him and frowned. “Soft spot? I'd rather punch him in the face! What kind of soft spot is it?” She paused “Let people talk, I don't care about gossip.”  
“But more than one of my men told me that you were dancing with him. And after all the story you had with him...”  
“More than a story I would call it a tragedy, he kept me prisoner and slave for a month. Isn't that enough to hate a man?”  
“So my men lied when they said you were dancing with me?”  
“I do not expect you to understand they ways of women to get their revenge. We are not violent and strong as men are, with your guns and reckless decisions.”  
“Ahhh, Miss Goldie, we all know you are not the soft damsel in danger you want everybody to believe you are. You are wise to play fool, I respect that. So you are not in love with McDuck?”  
“Of course not.”  
“I'm glad to hear so. Because, I was considering, you know all the way to his claim. Nobody really knows where White Agony Creek is and the mountains can be dangerous during winter. I thought you could guide us. You are the only one in Dawson who went there and came back from that place.”  
“Why should I do that?”  
“Because of the gold. Come on, Goldie, we know you well. You would never say no to the possibility to rob that Scottish man.”  
She held a towel in her fingers. Of course, this was the possibility to see him again, but... sell him to Soapy Slick's men? Never. She couldn't do that.  
“I won't.”  
“You won't??”  
“Yes, and that's my last word about it.” She tossed the towel on the counter and looked in his eyes. “I learned what happens if you mess with that duck. I don't ever want to do anything about him. I don't want to be part of your plan.”  
“Ah... well, that's sad. But you know, you never really had a choice.” He called his men. Goldie looked around and tried to walk away till her back touched the wall behind. She started feeling scared but still tried to keep her blood cold. Was he even serious?? “What are they doing here? Are you crazy? I'm gonna scream so loud that Scrooge McDuck himself will hear me and find out your plan.”  
“Yes, and run to save you.” Two men grabbed her arms before she could reach her gun “Because, you know” Soapy Slick kept talking “you might not be in love with him, but I have reason to believe he actually cares about you. Only someone so stupid can fall for Glittering Goldie. If you don't want to guide us to his claim he will, if we tell him that you are in danger.”  
“Just wait for when I'm free to put my hands on you, Soapy Slick!” She screamed, while getting dragged away, kicking in the air and trying to free herself. “Just wait for it! I swear Soapy Slick you won't enjoy McDuck's gold for too long! I FUCKING SWEAR! YOU HEAR ME?!”

When Scrooge McDuck came back to town to buy more supplies for the winter, the police accused him of kidnapping.  
“Kidnapping who? The cans of beans I bought last week? If you call that kidnapping. Ae paid for them! Ah'm a honest worker, don't bore me now!”  
“Mr McDuck! Everybody in town knows you already kidnapped the madame of the ballroom once!”  
“Ah! The madame of the Blackjack probably kidnapped herself just to give me troubles, ye will find her at her place, running her business, as Ae want to run mine.”  
“That's a lie!” a girl from the street said “Miss Goldie disappeared days ago, and nobody knows anything! You are the only one who would want to hurt her! I saw both of you arguing some time ago outside the ballroom!”  
Scrooge blinked “Goldie is... gone? She really disappeared?” He didn't really consider it true before. Now he was scared. “I didn't kidnap her! It wasn't me!” Not this time. He bit his own tongue and clenched his fists. “Move out of my way, I need to see someone.” He said sharply, running with his head down to someone he well knew.  
“Soapy Slick! I know you are here!” He knocked at the door of the casino. “Tell me you didn't do it! Open! QUICKLY!”  
Two of the gang took Scrooge inside: it was morning, no clients around, only people of the gang. All armed, while Scrooge didn't have nor his shotgun or his knife.  
“Did what, duck?”  
“You kidnapped Goldie! And spread the word that it was me! I almost got arrested! Where is she now?!”  
“Ah, she is fine. You got me, you really know me. I kidnapped her.”  
Scrooge looked at him with fire in his eyes. “I have destroyed your riverboat more than once, I will break it piece by piece to find her, I swear, if you hurt her-”  
“Nobody hurt her. Not more than what necessary anyway.”  
Another man laughed. “She kicked and screamed a lot. We had to tie her arms because she was scratching and I was bleeding. She got nails like a damn cat.”  
Scrooge grabbed that man by his jacked and pushed him on the floor. “Where's she?!”  
“Don't fret, duck” Soapy Slick said “You will see her soon, if you do as we ask.”  
Scrooge knew this was going to happend. “What do you want? Gold? Money? I can give you both, in time. I have nothing on me. Just let me see her, be sure she is safe.”  
“I don't want gold or money” he said “I want the position of your claim. And not on the map, I want you to take us to White Agony Creek. If Miss Goldie were wiser, she would have helped. She wouldn't have been kidnapped and maybe earned some gold out of this. But she is a woman, ya know? Tender heart.” He made a disgusting smile.  
Scrooge frowned. “Let me see her first, then I'll take you to my claim.”  
“Sure.” He gestured to his men to bring their prisoner. “Don't try anything funny here, you don't want troubles today. My men are all armed and you are only one duck. Strong as you can be, you can't do much against guns.”  
After a moment, he heard Goldie's voice. She was screaming and kicking, just as they told him before. Scrooge ran to see her.  
“Goldie-”  
“Fuck! You here! Run away, you stupid asshole!” She had her arms tied to her back, just as they said. Scrooge took her by the shoulders. “Are ye alright?”  
“WHAT DO YOU SAY?! OF COURSE I'M NOT!”  
“Come on, ma'am” Soapy Slick said “No need to agitate. McDuck already accepted our conditions.”  
“You did what?!” Her green eyes looked sincerely upset “You can't! I won't let you guide these shits to White Agony Creek! You can't do this!”  
“I can't leave ye here either.”  
“I CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT YOU! I NEED NO SAVING!”  
Slick smiled. “Lead the way?”

On their way to the mountains, Scrooge requested that Goldie was untied, but Soapy Slick refused to.  
“Of course he doesn't want to untie me” She said “Too scared I'm gonna kill him with my bare hands.”  
“I don't doubt that” Scrooge said “Does it hurt you?” he asked in a softer tone.  
Goldie looked down in the snow. “My arms feels numb. Could be worse thought.” A man pushed her to walk faster with his gun. She frowned. “I swear I'll make him eat that shit, sooner or later, or my name is not Glittering Goldie.”  
When they arrived in front of the cave, Goldie pursed her lips and stepped in front of Scrooge. “Fine! Let's take these gentlemen to White Agony Creek!” She said, changing path. Scrooge couldn't believe her but better to follow her if she had a plan. He had to play along. She didn't have a big plan, just thought to take the longest path she could ever imagine so the gang could get tired and maybe give up?  
Or more likely kill them both.  
They walked, indeed, for hours in the snow, till sunset. Scrooge guided her too and helped her walking in the deeper snow, holding her by the arm. He knew the zone better than her so he tried not to get lost in the wood on the mountains. When they reached a hill that was over a river, the same rived that lead to another direction to Scrooge's claim, when the gang started complaining and suspecting their little game.  
“It's fucking cold up here! Are we there or not?!”  
“Not yet” Scrooge said.  
“Why is your claim so fucking distant?!”  
“To be far away from you fuckers!” Goldie said with a mean laugh.  
A man slapped her with a gun. “You shut up, woman. It's not your claim.”  
Scrooge couldn't stand this: hurting a woman! Unarmed and tied! It was true misery! In a moment he started a fight! Someone pushed Goldie aside in the heat of the fight. She sat on her knees on the snow, trying to understand what was happening. Her head felt light for all the time she spent being tied up and without eating. More about herself, she was concerned about Scrooge. Only one, against so many men! It wasn't the first time she saw him fighting with courage, for her life, but still, she was scared for him. When she saw a man loading up a gun, Goldie screamed and ran against that man, scared that he could get to really shoot at Scrooge. The man didn't expect it and dropped his gun down the hill, where he couldn't reach it anymore. He swore nervously and pushed Goldie away. “Damn woman!”  
Though, the Star of the North didn't know how to fly. She lost her balance and without the possibility to grab anything for her safety, Goldie fell from the hill to the cold freezing waters of the river.  
Scrooge heard her voice scream and turned around to see her. Immediate fear caught him when he realized she fell into the river! She was tied up, she wouldn't even be able to swim and survive-  
Without a second thought, Scrooge ran and jumped in the river too.  
The rest of Soapy Slick's men kept fighting for a while before realizing that they lost both their prisoners.  
“Tsk.” Soapy Slick concluded. “And they said they didn't care for each other. Now... what's the way to go back to Dawson?”

Scrooge swam crazily under the cold waters of the river till he found Goldie. He took her in his arms -her glittery dress got heavy with the water and almost dragged her to the bottom of the river- and brought her out on the river bank.  
She looked unresponsive.  
“Goldie! Goldie please, wake up!” Scrooge quickly untied her arms and pushed on her chest: luckyly during his time by the Mississipi he learned how to save drowned people. After minutes of true fear, when he almost thought he was too late to save her, Goldie breathed again.  
“Goldie-!” He was about to cry “Goldie, oh my God, ye're alive!”  
She slowly opened her beautiful green eyes “Am... I? Alive?”  
Scrooge helped her to sit up. “You fell into the river. I tried to save you as fast as I could. I was afraid-”  
“Weren't I tied up I would have been able to swim away and leave you to deal with those assholes.” She lied. She wouldn't. She fell in the river in the first place just to save his life. And he knew it.  
“I ken. I ken.”  
She slowly got up -Scrooge was ready to help her- and breathed hard. “Where... where are we? I need to go back to the Blackjack. Tell my girls I'm alive.”  
Scrooge blinked. “Ye cannae leave now! Ye- yer dress is all wet, and it's almost dark. It will be night soon and ye won't be able to arrive to Dawson like that.”  
“But-”  
“My cabin is not too far away. Ae ken these forests. Trust me.”  
“Your coat is wet too” She said.  
“Then we better get on march now, aye?” He lifted her to carry her on his shoulders. Goldie tried to protest but she was weak and hungry and quickly gave up to him. She fell asleep with her aching arms curled around his shoulders.

Scrooge woke her up when they arrived to his cabin. He put her down and walked inside to light a fire. Goldie was still amazed and confused by how familiar that cabin seemed, more than her own room at the Blackjack, more than the whole Blackjack itself.  
“Goldie”  
“Mhm?”  
“Well.... how so Ae say this” He looked nervous “Here's a towel that you can use to dry yourself up. And a blanket to cover yourself.” She blinked in response. “Ah m going to the woodbin to give ye... a moment alone.”  
Oh, fuck, yes. She really had to take off her wet dress. As soon as Scrooge closed the door of the woodbin, Goldie took off that dress and her gown and put them on a chair to dry up. Of course, Scrooge didn't have any dress to give her, and probably only one spare clean shirt that surely needed to wear. The thought almost made her smile, while she dried herself with the towel and tried to find the best way to use the blanket to cover her naked body.  
After a while, Scrooge slowly opened the door of the woodbin. “Can I?”  
“Yeah, sorry, I just got distracted by the fire” Goldie said. She was sitting on the floor in front of the stove.  
“It's fine” He said. He put the wet coat on the chair next to Goldie's dress. “Ah m sorry I didn't have another shirt to give ye...”  
“It's fine” She smiled “You already saved my life today, I don't ask too much.”  
Scrooge looked at her naked shoulders and the shapes her wet golden curls made on her neck. Oh God, he thought, the most beautiful woman in the world is in my cabin, naked, just covered by a blanket.  
“Scrooge?” She made a soft smile “You starin'?”  
“Ah! No no! Sorry!” He turned his back to her and started cooking.  
“Do you need help with that?”  
“No, no. I'm good, you just sit here and get warm, I can handle this.”  
“Okay, if you say so.”

They had dinner sitting side by side, Goldie had never eaten anything as good as those beans, after starving for days -Scrooge gave her a bigger bowl too.  
“I want to give ye something” He said.  
“What?”  
“This” He handed her the strongbox. “Because you saved my claim and my life, risking yours, today. I think you earned it.” He opened it to show her the goose egg nugget. Then blushed slightly, looking away. “I mean, I hope you will let me keep the _other_ things inside-”  
“No” she stated.  
“No?”  
“I don't want it.” She said with a cold tone.  
Scrooge looked surprised. “But you have always wanted it. You had been trying to steal it from me for so long! And now I'm offering it to ye-”  
“And now I don't want it. Not from you. Not... that.” She said in a quiet, soft tone. Then she filled the silence between them, shifting closer to him. “Just hold me now. Keep me warm. I don't want to die tonight in this miserable cabin.”  
Scrooge blushed madly -same thing, the most beautiful woman in the world was in his cabin, naked, and now close to him asking to be held in _his arms_!- but he didn't waste the occasion. He curled one arm around her and held her close against his side. Goldie closed her eyes and leaned against his chest.  
“Are ye... sure ye're going to be safe? Back in Dawson?”  
“Do you want me to stay here?”  
“It's... not what Ae said.”  
“Mhm, I thought so” she muttered “I'm gonna be fine. I'm gonna be happier when I'll mount Soapy Slick's head in my ballroom.”  
“Can I come to see it?”  
“Don't break more glasses next time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like this story. I tried to write something more as a comic adventure, something completely new to me but I was happy to do it and I liked it! It was fun to write this.


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